Dedicated to every Norwich City
Player since 1980

Ashley
Ward

Norwich
Career:

1994-1996
(60 appearances, 21 goals)

Current
Club:

Retired

Date
of Birth:

24/11/1970

Nationality:

English

Biography

Ashley Ward signed for Norwich from Crewe Alexandra for £350,000
in December 1994. Prior to joining Norwich, Ashley was with Crewe
Alexandra and had scored 25 goals for them in 61 league appearances.
Originally a trainee with Manchester City, Ashley has also spent
time at Leicester City (10 league appearances) and has had loan
spells at Wrexham and Blackpool.
Within a day of his arrival, Ashley made his Canaries debut against
Chelsea scoring twice in the first half. He made it three goals
in two games when he netted the following week away to Crystal
Palace. Ashley played an important role in Norwich's unsuccessful
attempt to avoid relegation that season scoring eight times in
twenty five appearances. In Division One, Ashley added another
ten league and three Coca Cola Cup goals before transferring to
Derby County on 21st March 1996. His spell at the Baseball Ground
was marred with injury problems. On 3rd September 1997, Ashley
moved to fellow Premiership side Barnsley for an initial fee of
£1.3million with an additional £250,000 if Barnsley
avoid relegation this season and Derby receiving 20 percent of
any future transfer fee.

Since the move, Ashley's career has been one of million pound
transfers and plenty of speculation. Ashley's impressive form
for Barnsley in their heroic struggle against relegation won him
the respect of Scottish giants Celtic, according to Yahoo's Teamtalk service. Supposedly
Celtic made a £3million bid for Ashley's services. Leicester
manager Martin O'Neill was also rumoured to be interested in signing
Ashley whilst Ashley's former Barnsley manager Danny Wilson was
interested in taking Ashley to Hillsborough to play for Wilson's
Sheffield Wednesday side. Wilson would raise the funds by selling
the troubled Paolo Di Canio. However the Sunday People
suggested on 11th October that Ashley would be the target of a
£3million bid from Martin O'Neill
once he takes over at Leeds. This rumour of a move to Elland Road
continued with George Graham's successor David O'Leary said to
be keen on securing Ashley's services. According to The Sun
on 18th November, Barnsley also rejected a £3.5million bid
from Leciester for Ashley's signature. The pressure seemed to
be getting to Ashley. Although he scored Barnsley's opening goal
in their November 21st clash with Sunderland, he later missed
a penalty and then received a red card for a vicious stamp on
Darren Williams. Despite his loss, the Terriers went on to record
an impressive 3-2 away win. If tabloid speculation is to be believed
then Ashley Ward is the most popular player in football with no
less than a third of all Premiership sides linked to him. Blackburn's
new manager Brian Kidd offered £4million for him whilst Charlton,
Southampton and Everton have all been linked recently with his
signature.

Ashley eventually joined Blackburn for £4.5million on Christmas
Day 1998. A month later, he was replaced at Oakwell by Mike Sheron. One year later (12th December 1999), the News
of the World speculated that Ashley could be set for a return
to the Premiership as Spurs were preparing a £1.75million bid
for him. Yet Ashley quickly fell out of favour at Ewood Park,
Crewe Alexandra were keen to take Ashley back in March 2000 according
to Teamtalk. Rumours that
Ashley would be departing Ewood Park strengthened following the
appointment of Graeme Souness as manager. The media claimed that
in his first week in charge, Ward was offered to other Division
One and some Premiership sides as Souness seeks to make his own
imprint on Blackburn.

In August 2000, Ashley returned to the Premiership in a £1.5million
transfer to Bradford City. Only four months later saw Ashley linked
with a £1.5million move to Everton, according to Sport First
on 17th December 2000. Claims were made in early January 2000
that Ashley would return to Barnsley on loan as he was not part
of Jim Jefferies' thinking for the Bradford attack. In contrast
to Bradford's opinion on Ashley's abilities, Sport First
reported on 16th February 2001 that high-flyers Newcastle were
seeking to Ward as cover for Alan Shearer (!) and would offer
Stephen Glass in exchange. However the Sunday edition of Sport
First reported two days later that Derby manager Jim Smith
was looking for a top class striker and was keen on bringing Ward
back to Derby. In February 2001, Ashley was linked twice with
moves to Lancashire with Bruce Rioch alleged
to be preparing a £1million bid for Wigan, and then Bolton boss
Sam Allardyce denying that Ward was the striker he was trying
to sign. Unfortunately for Ashley, his next battle with relegation
was less successful as Bradford dropped out of the top flight
on 28th April 2001. The Sunday People reported as recently
as 13th May 2001 that Derby were willing to pay £1million to re-sign
Ashley.

In February 2002 it looked as if Ashley would rejoin Barnsley
on a free transfer but he could not agreee a suitable contractual
pay-off from Bradford. At the beginning of March 2002, it was
suggested that Ward might join financially-strapped Nottingham
Forest who had sold Stern John to Birmingham and lost David Johnson
to Burnley on loan. Ashley was also linked wth a switch to Everton
before Walter Smith was sacked.

Bradford went into administration in May 2002 due to their financial
difficulties and on May 23rd, 16 players had their contracts terminated
with immediate effect by the adminstrators. Ward was one of the
unlucky ones. Such a move sparked a outrage from the Professional
Footballers Association and their deputy Chief Executive Mick
McGuire. Ashley was soon linked with a move to his former
club Barnsley despite their relegation to Division Two. At the
end of June 2002, the media linked Wolves with a move for Ward.

The 20th of September 2002 saw the media suggest that Ashley would
be joining First Division pace-setters Portsmouth on a free transfer.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp confirmed he wanted to sign
Ward whilst Bradford confirmed that Portsmouth had approached
them. A return to the Premiership was suggested in early October
2002 with media speculation linking him with a move to Sunderland.
Mere weeks later, it was rumoured that new Ipswich manager Joe
Royle was hoping to bring in Ward on loan after an approach
for Arsenal's Francis Jeffers was turned down. At the beginning
of 2003, a loan move to Nottingham Forest surfaced in the Sunday
People.

The first weekend of August 2003 saw increased media speculation
concerning Ward's future with former club Derby said to be keen
on bringing Ward back. Shef United manager Neil Warnock confirmed
that he had made enquiries about Ward's availability. On Tuesday
5th 2003, Ward and Bradford parted company in mutual agreement
leaving him free to join another club. He opted for Sheffield
United. He stayed until May 2005 when he was released. According
to reports in the East Anglian Daily Times on 1st June 2005, Ipswich
are looking to sign Ward. On June 12th 2005, the People
suggested that Ashley might reunite with his former Barnsley manager
Danny Wilson at Milton Keynes Dons - Stockport are also said to
be keen.

Now retired, Ashley runs a luxury property development company,
specialising in the building and renovation of luxury homes in
Cheshire. He has built many footballers homes including those
of Kevin Campbell and Wayne Rooney.

In March 2011, Ward had talks with Wrexham about a takeover at
the Racecourse Ground. He said "I have also had it confirmed
to me, by the current owners, that none of the other interested
parties have a preferred bidder status. I anticipate being in
a position to make a formal announcement shortly. made my league
debut at Wrexham and they helped me get my football career started.
I have always had a soft spot for the club and hope that I will
be able to help restore Wrexham to its rightful position, not
only in the Football League, but in time back into the Championship"